Cabin cruises on Grasmere, 4 x 4s in Tilberthwaite…. The Lakes are in an uproar about inclusiveness. Nobody goes there, apparently, who isn’t white, middle-class, and probably male as well. What the Lake District needs is visitors of all ages, races, genders, socio-economic classes, religious affiliations, blah, blah, blah. Not just people who have read about them, looked at maps, and have a taste for scenery and silence.
Silence. Is it elitist, racist, or anything more than just noisist to want to get away from intrusive sounds? Irrelevant sounds; that’s the point. Wind, birdsong, sheep, even a tractor across the valley are the natural sounds of the countryside. Transistors and revving engines are intrusions.
Forestry is admittedly noisy – occasionally. Chainsaws and bulldozers are no friends of quiet enjoyment. But they only break the silence in working hours during felling and thinning operations. Not at weekends, and for limited and predictable times.
On our hillsides in Snowdonia we have narrow gates with stones to frustrate off-roaders. We have signs that say Dim Modurs, and don’t often see or hear intruders. But we are far off the beaten track and our terrain would seem tame to serious petrolheads. In the lakes, where millions go to breathe deep of mountain air and cock their ears at country sounds, can anyone argue that the general good is enhanced by revving motors?
